Major Averages Seeing Further Downside Following Early Pullback

(RTTNews) - After coming under pressure in early trading on Thursday, stocks have seen further downside over the course of the session. The Dow is moving lower for the sixth consecutive session and has fallen to a six-month intraday low.

Biotechnology stocks have moved sharply lower over the course of the trading session, dragging the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index down by 3.8 percent. With the drop, the index has fallen to its lowest intraday level in almost a month.

Agios Pharmaceuticals (AGIO) has helped to lead the biotech sector lower, plunging by 10.1 percent after reporting a wider than expected second quarter loss.

Considerable weakness is also visible among consumer discretionary stocks, as reflected by the 2.2 percent drop by the S&P 500 Consumer Discretionary Index.

Within the consumer discretionary sector, media companies such as Viacom (VIA) and 21st Century Fox (FOXA) are posting steep losses after reporting disappointing quarterly results.

Semiconductor stocks have also come under significant selling pressure, resulting in a 2 percent drop by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. The index is on pace to set a nine-month closing low.

Healthcare, trucking, software, and networking stocks are also seeing notable weakness, while gold and oil service stocks are bucking the downtrend.

In recent trading, the major averages have climbed off their lows for the session, but they remain firmly in the red. The Dow is down 132.94 points or 0.8 percent at 17,407.53, the Nasdaq is down 90.96 points or 1.8 percent at 5,048.98 and the S&P 500 is down 19.66 points or 0.9 percent at 2,080.18.